I.C.I. produced this demonstration board to represent some of its popularly used commercial explosives around the middle of the 20th century. It was used to teach miners which explosives and detonators where most suitable for the varying conditions they would be using them in underground.
The effectiveness of explosives could be reduced by the wet conditions that occurred in mines. This led companies like I.C.I. to improve the outer packaging and composition of explosives and to develop a range of waterproof fuses specifically for using in mines.
Explosives were extremely dangerous to use underground and could easily start secondary explosions of coal dust or gas. It was essential that miners were well educated about the types and uses of the explosives that were available to them to reduce the high risks taken when using them underground.
